Paper recycling device and paper recycling method

ABSTRACT

A paper recycling method includes defibrating first paper by dry type crushing into defibrated material, transporting the defibrated material using a first transport unit, deinking by an air flow classification of the defibrated material after the transporting by the first transport unit, transporting using the second transport unit the defibrated material after the deinking by the classifying process, and forming second paper with the defibrated material after the transporting by the second transport unit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/223,431 of Jul. 29,2016, which is a continuation application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/859,789 filed on Sep. 21, 2015, which isa divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/484,789filed on Sep. 12, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,194,081, which is adivisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/979,089filed on Oct. 3, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,882,965, which is a U.S.national phase application that claims priority to Japanese PatentApplication Nos. 2011/004113, 2011/005573, and 2011/005574 filed on Jan.12, 2011, Jan. 14, 2011, and Jan. 14, 2011 respectively. The entiredisclosures of U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 15/223,431, 14/859,789,14/484,385 and 13/979,089 and Japanese Patent Application Nos.2011/004113, 2011/005573, and 2011/005574 are hereby incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a paper recycling device and paperrecycling method based on paper recycling technology using a dry methodthat to the extent possible does not use water.

Related Art

In the past, with recycling of old paper discharged from offices or thelike, a so-called wet method was used by which old paper was put intowater, defibrated using mainly mechanical action, and remade. This kindof wet method old paper recycling requires a large volume of water, sothe processing scale has to be large to make it inexpensive. Because ofthat, collecting a large volume of old paper is essential, and inaddition to a great deal of effort being required for preparation andmaintenance of the water processing equipment, there was also theproblem that a large volume of energy is used for the drying process.

However, since old paper on which confidential items are noted is alsodischarged from offices, from the perspective of maintainingconfidentiality as well, there is a desire to process old paper withinone's own office. However, since the volume of old paper discharged froma small office is small, it is difficult to ensure the volume necessaryfor a large scale process like that described above. Also, it is notrealistic to install equipment for large scale processing like thatnoted above within an office. In light of that, to do paper recycling,up to now, several dry method paper recycling technologies that to theextent possible do not use water have been proposed.

For example, disclosed with the invention noted in Patent Document 1(Patent Application Publication No. H01-148888) is use of secondaryfiber sources as sheets for printing newspaper by defibrating them usinga dry method, and by making the printed ink into tiny ink spots that aredifficult to detect.

SUMMARY

However, the paper that is recycled using the technology noted in PatentDocument 1 has not gone through the so-called deinking process thatremoves components of ink grains and the like contained in the fiberobtained by defibrating old paper, so there was the problem that thewhiteness level was low, and its applicability was limited to paper forprinting newspapers or the like.

A paper recycling method according to one aspect of the inventionincludes defibrating first paper by dry type crushing into defibratedmaterial, transporting the defibrated material using a first transportunit, deinking by an air flow classification of the defibrated materialafter the transporting by the first transport unit, transporting usingthe second transport unit the defibrated material after the deinking bythe classifying process, and forming second paper with the defibratedmaterial after the transporting by the second transport unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the attached drawings which form a part of thisoriginal disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a pattern diagram showing the schematic structure of the paperrecycling device of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a drawing schematically showing the control block structure ofthe paper recycling device of the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a pattern diagram showing the schematic structure of the paperrecycling device of another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a pattern diagram showing the schematic structure of the paperrecycling device of another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Following, we will describe an embodiment of the invention whilereferring to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a pattern diagram showing theschematic structure of the paper recycling device of an embodiment ofthe invention. The paper recycling device of this embodiment is based ontechnology for recycling old paper into new paper using a dry methodthat to the extent possible does not use water.

As the old paper supplied to the paper recycling device of thisembodiment, for example, old paper of A4 size which is currently themainstream in offices or the like is used. This kind of old paper isinput to a coarse crusher 10 of the paper recycling device, and the oldpaper is cut into paper pieces of several centimeters square by a coarsecrushing blade 11 of the coarse crusher 10. Also, it is preferable toprovide an automatic feed mechanism 5 for continuously inputting oldpaper in this kind of coarse crusher 10. Considering productivity, it ispreferable that the input speed of the automatic feed mechanism 5 behigh, but if it is too high, the device for processing becomes verylarge, so it is desirable to be 10 to 100 ppm.

The coarse crushing blade 11 of the coarse crusher 10 can be handled byusing a device such as one for which the cutting width of the blade of anormal shredder has been widened. Coarsely crushed paper pieces cut intoseveral centimeters square by the coarse crushing blade 11 are led via acoarsely crushed paper introduction pipe 20 from a hopper 12 to thedefibrating process which is the next process.

The coarsely crushed paper introduction pipe 20 is in communication withan introduction port 31 of a dry type defibrator 30, and the coarselycrushed paper led into the dry type defibrator 30 from the introductionport 31 is defibrated between a rotating rotor 34 and a stator 33. Thedry type defibrator 30 is a mechanism that generates air flow, and thedefibrated fibers ride this air flow and are led from an exhaust port 32to a first transport pipe 40.

Here, we will describe a specific example of the dry type defibrator 30.For the dry type defibrator 30, for example, it is possible to use a drytype old paper defibrator device equipped with a disc refiner, a turbomill (made by Turbo Kogyo Co., Ltd.), a ceren miller (made by MasukoSangyo Co., Ltd.), or a wind generating mechanism such as that disclosedin Patent Application Publication No. H06-93585. The size of the paperpieces input to this kind of dry type defibrator 30 can be itemsdischarged by a normal shredder, but when considering paper strength, itis better to be larger than the fine paper pieces for confidentialprocessing discharged by a shredder (e.g. 4 mm to 5 mm wide), but whentoo large, it becomes difficult to input into the dry type defibrator30, so items cut into several centimeters square are desirable.

Also, with the dry type defibrator 30 equipped with a wind generatingmechanism, using the air flow generated by itself, paper pieces aresuctioned together with the air flow from the introduction port 31,undergo defibrating processing, and are transported to the exhaust port32 side.

For example, with the Impeller Mill 250 (made by Seishin Enterprise Co.,Ltd.) which is a turbo mill format, by installing 12 blades at theoutput side, when at 8000 rpm (peripheral speed approximately 100 m/s),it is possible to generate wind volume of approximately 3 m³/min. Thewind speed at the introduction port 31 side at this time isapproximately 4 m/s, and the paper pieces are introduced by riding thisair flow. The introduced paper pieces are defibrated between the bladesrotating at high speed and the stator, and are exhausted from theexhaust port 32. The exhaust speed is approximately 6.5 m/s at exhaustpipe diameter ø100.

When using the dry type defibrator 30 not equipped with a windgenerating mechanism, it is acceptable to separately provide air flowleading the coarse paper pieces into the introduction port 31.

With the defibrating process at the dry type defibrator 30, defibratingpulp to a fiber form for which the shape of the paper pieces disappearsis preferable because unevenness of the paper formed at the subsequentstep is eliminated. At this time, coating materials and the like forpaper such as printed ink or toner, bleed prevention agent or the likeare also crushed, and are crushed until they become grains of severaltens of μm (hereafter called ink grains). Therefore, the output from thedry type defibrator 30 is the fiber and ink grains obtained bydefibrating the paper pieces.

Also, as the dry type defibrator 30, for example, when using a diskrefiner, blades are formed in the radial direction on a round disksurface, but it is desirable to use blades with an edge on thecircumference. Also, for the gap of the rotating blades of the rotor 34side and the fixed blades of the stator 33, it is desirable to maintainapproximately the paper piece thickness, for example approximately 100to 150 μm. At this time, the defibrated material is moved to the outercircumference by the air flow generated by the rotating blades, andexhausted from the exhaust port 32.

The defibrated material which rode the air flow from the exhaust port 32of the dry type defibrator 30 is introduced to a cyclone 50 from thefirst transport pipe 40. Here, midway in the first transport pipe 40 isprovided a tube diameter reduction part 45. This tube diameter reductionpart 45 functions as an adjustment unit for performing adjustment of theair flow which transports fibers at the first transport pipe 40.Specifically, with this kind of adjustment unit, by performingadjustment of the transport cross section of the first transport pipe40, adjustment is performed of the air flow that transports fibers inthe first transport pipe 40. As a result, the air velocity at theintroduction port 51 of the cyclone 50 is adjusted to be greater thanthe air velocity at the exhaust port 32 of the dry type defibrator 30.

The deinking process is implemented in the cyclone 50, and the fiberstransported by the first transport pipe 40 are classified by air flowinto ink grains and deinked fibers. With the invention, it is possibleto use an air flow type classifier of another type instead of thecyclone 50, but among these, the cyclone is desirable because of itssimple structure. As an air flow type classifier other than the cyclone,for example an elbow jet, an eddy classifier or the like can be used.The air flow type classifier generates a gyrating air flow, andseparates and classifies mixed materials by size using centrifugalforce, and it is possible to adjust the classification points byadjusting the air flow speed and the centrifugal force.

In terms of performing deinking using the cyclone 50, the tangent lineinput method cyclone is desirable because it has a relatively simplestructure. This cyclone 50 is constituted from the introduction port 51,a cylinder part 52 for which the introduction port 51 is attached in thetangent line direction, an inverted cone part 53 following the cylinderpart 52, a lower outlet port 43 provided at the top of the inverted conepart 53, and an upper exhaust port 55 for doing fine powder exhaustprovided at the top center of the cylinder part 52. The defibratedmaterial riding on the air flow (mixed material of fibers and inkgrains) is preferably introduced from the introduction port 51 atapproximately 10 to 20 m/s.

With the deinking process, the air flow on which the defibrated materialis riding introduced from the introduction port 51 of the cyclone 50changes with circumference motion at the cylinder part 52 of outerdiameter ø approximately 100 to 300 mm, centrifugal force is applied,and by the synergistic effect with air flow, fibers become entangled andbecome large, the ink grains are separated, move to the inverted conepart 53, and the separated ink grains are led out as fine powdertogether with air to the upper exhaust port 55, and thus deinkingadvances.

However, it is advantageous for the introduction speed of the air flowon which defibrated material is riding to the cyclone 50 to be fast.Also, if the speed of the cyclone introduction unit is lower than theexhaust air speed of the dry type defibrator 30, then defibratedmaterial is retained inside the first transport pipe 40, the density perunit length of the introduction unit to the cyclone 50 becomes high andthe deinking performance decreases.

In light of that, with the paper recycling device of the invention, thetube diameter reduction part 45 is provided midway in the firsttransport pipe 40, and the air velocity at the introduction port 51 ofthe cyclone 50 is adjusted so as to be greater than the air velocity atthe exhaust port 32 of the dry type defibrator 30.

Following, we will give a description using a specific example. The finepowder recovery volume recovered by the cyclone 50 was 2.9 weight %(with the total volume of old paper supplied to the paper recyclingdevice as 100 weight %) when the defibrated material exhausted from thedry type defibrator 30 (ø100,cross section area approximately 78 cm²)was air classified by being introduced from the introduction port 51 ofthe cyclone 50 from the first transport pipe 40 having (1) a 100 mm×50mm constant square cross section (cross section area approximately 50cm²), and the whiteness level of the paper recycled at the forming steplater was 82 (Xlite-L value). Also, at this time, the air velocity atthe introduction port 51 of the cyclone 50 was 10 m/s.

The fine powder recovery volume recovered by the cyclone 50 was 3.8weight % (with the total volume of old paper supplied to the paperrecycling device as 100 weight %) when the defibrated material exhaustedfrom the dry type defibrator 30 was air classified by being introducedfrom the introduction port 51 of the cyclone 50 from the first transportpipe 40 having (2) a tube diameter reduction part 45 with a square crosssection of from 100 mm×50 mm to a square cross section of 100 mm×40 mm(cross section area approximately 40 cm²), and the whiteness level ofthe paper recycled at the forming step later was 88 (Xlite-L value).Also, at this time, the air velocity at the introduction port 51 of thecyclone 50 was 12 m/s.

The fine powder recovery volume recovered by the cyclone 50 was 4.9weight % (with the total volume of old paper supplied to the paperrecycling device as 100 weight %) when the defibrated material exhaustedfrom the dry type defibrator 30 was air classified by being introducedfrom the introduction port 51 of the cyclone 50 from the first transportpipe 40 having (3) a tube diameter reduction part 45 with a square crosssection of from 100 mm×50 mm to a square cross section of 100 mm×30 mm(cross section area approximately 30 cm²), and the whiteness level ofthe paper recycled at the forming step later was 91 (Xlite-L value).Also, at this time, the air velocity at the introduction port 51 of thecyclone 50 was 16.7 m/s.

The whiteness degree when recycled paper was formed without classifyingthe defibrated material exhausted from the dry type defibrator 30 usingthe cyclone 50 was 79 (Xlite-L value).

In any of cases (1) through (3), a slight amount of flocculent shortfiber was included in the fine powder recovered by the cyclone 50, but alarge volume of ink grains were included, and deinking was confirmed.

With the kind of deinking process described above, the material ridingon the air flow and exhausted from the upper exhaust port 55 with thecyclone 50 passes through a third transport pipe 70 and is recovered ina receiving unit 90. In the material recovered by this receiving unit90, short fiber mixed material in which a large volume of ink grains iscontained as described previously is recovered.

Also, with the deinking process noted above, the material exhausted fromthe lower outlet port 54 of the cyclone 50 is deinked fiber, and thisdeinked fiber is introduced to a paper forming machine 100 from thesecond transport pipe 60. For the paper forming machine 100, it ispossible to use an item such as is described in Translation of PatentPublication No. 2008-508443.

We will describe a summary of the paper forming machine 100. The paperforming machine 100, in summary, has a mechanism for uniformlydispersing deinked fibers in air, and a mechanism for suctioning thedeinked fibers dispersed by this onto the mesh belt 122.

A small hole screen is provided on the surface of a forming drum 101 ofthe paper forming machine 100, and deinked fibers are made to bedischarged from this. Also, a needle roll 102 capable of rotating isprovided inside the forming drum 101, and the deinked fibers are made torise so as not to cause clogging of the small hole screen of the surfaceof the forming drum 101. Two forming drums 101 are made to be incommunication at locations that are not illustrated. With theconstitution like that described above, deinked fibers are disperseduniformly in air.

Beneath the paper forming machine 100, an endless mesh belt 122 isplaced with the mesh formed stretched by a tension roller 121. Byrotating at least one of the tension rollers 121, this mesh belt 122 ismade to move in the direction shown by the arrow in the drawing. Also,the mesh belt 122 has dirt and the like on its surface removed by acleaning blade 123 that abuts it.

Also, vertically downward from the two forming drums 101 is provided asuction device 110 for generating air flow facing vertically downward ina form via the mesh belt 122. The deinked fibers dispersed in air aresuctioned onto the mesh belt 122 by this kind of suction device 110.

With the kind of constitution described above, the deinked fiberstransported by the second transport pipe 60 are introduced into thepaper forming machine 100 to form paper. With the paper forming machine100, the deinked fibers are entangled in the cyclone 50, so they areuntangled again by the needle roll 102 or the like. The untangleddeinked fibers pass through the small hole screen of the forming drum101 surface, and are deposited on the mesh belt 122 by the suction forceof the suction device 110. At this time, by moving the mesh belt 122, itis possible to deposit deinked defibrated material in an even sheetform. This deinked defibrated material becomes recycled paper (P).

Whether the mesh belt 122 is metal, resin, or non-woven fabric, thedeinked fibers can be deposited, and any material is acceptable as longas air flow can pass through, but if the hole diameter of the mesh istoo large, dents and bumps occur when the paper P is formed, so it ispreferable that the hole diameter be approximately 60 to 125μ. Also,when 60μ or less, it is difficult to form a stable air flow with thesuction device 110. For the suction device 110, it is possible to form asealed box with windows of the desired size opened below the mesh belt122, and to form it by making the inside of the box a vacuum bysuctioning the air from outside the window.

If a sheet for which deinked fibers are deposited on the mesh belt 122is pressed as is, the paper strength is insufficient, so the hydrogenbonding between fibers is enhanced by adding water by spraying using thewater sprayer 130.

After that, the recycled paper (P) sprayed with water by the watersprayer 130 passes through a heater roller 140 along with movement ofthe mesh belt 122, but by being heated and pressed by this heater roller140, the fiber gap is made shorter and the contact points between fibersbecomes stronger. By doing this, the strength of the recycled paper (P)as paper is increased, and by drying the excess water, it is possible tomake excellent paper. Drying is done by installing a heater inside thepress roller, and it is preferable to do pressing and dryingsimultaneously. By adding a so-called paper strength enhancer such asstarch, PVA or the like to the water sprayed by the water sprayer 130,it is possible to enhance the paper strength.

The recycled paper (P) obtained as described above can be processedusing a calendar roller 150 to improve the surface smoothness. Therecycled paper (P) processed using the calendar roller 150 is cut to thedesired size using a cutter 160, and is loaded using a stacker 170 orthe like.

We will describe an example of control of the paper recycling deviceconstituted as described above. FIG. 2 is a drawing schematicallyshowing the constitution of the control block of the paper recyclingdevice of an embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 2, the main controlunit 200 is a main controller for performing various controls of thepaper recycling device of the invention. Using a general purposeinformation processing device equipped with a CPU and RAM, ROM or thelike, it is possible to realize this kind of main control unit 200 bystoring in advance in a ROM program that has the CPU execute theoperation of outputting commands to a designated block based ondesignated information that has been input.

The detection results by the thickness sensor 190 that detects thethickness of the deinked defibrated material deposited on the mesh belt122 are input to the main control unit 200 like that noted above. Withthe main control unit 200, the detection results data output from thethickness sensor 190 are processed, and are used for controlling thepaper recycling device.

Also, the main control unit 200 is made to output control instructionsignals for controlling the feeding speed of old paper with theautomatic feed mechanism 5, and when these are received at the automaticfeed mechanism 5, the feeding speed of the old paper is adjusted basedon these.

Also, the main control unit 200 is made to output control instructionsignals for controlling the rotation speed of the rotor 34 of the drytype defibrator 30, and when these are received by the dry typedefibrator 30, the rotation speed of the rotor 34 is adjusted based onthese.

Also, the main control unit 200 is made to output control instructionsignals for controlling the paper forming process speed with the paperforming machine 100, and when these are received at the paper formingmachine 100, the process speed is adjusted based on these.

Also, the main control unit 200 is made to output control instructionsignals for controlling the suction force of the suction device 110, andwhen these are received by the suction device 100, the suction force isadjusted based on these.

Next, we will describe an example of control of the paper recyclingdevice constituted as described above. For the recycled paper obtainedwith the paper recycling device of the invention, the basis weight isdetermined by the volume of deinked fiber deposited on the mesh belt122.

The basis weight of the old paper input to the device by the automaticfeed mechanism 5, for example, is not fixed, ranging from thin paper ofapproximately 60 g to thick paper of approximately 120 g, so if theinput old paper is input at a fixed number of sheets, the volume ofprocessed fiber will vary, and the basis weight of the produced paperwill also vary.

Also, for the deinking process, the deinking volume also varies by thevolume of crushed ink, so the volume that goes to the fine powder side(upper exhaust port 55 side) of the cyclone 50 also varies, and as aresult, the volume of obtained deinked defibrated material also varies,and this leads to variation in the paper basis weight.

In light of that, with this embodiment, the thickness of the deinkeddefibrated material deposited on the mesh belt 122 is measured, andfeedback is given for the mesh belt 122 speed and the speed of the oldpaper input volume by the automatic feed mechanism 5.

In specific terms, the device is started, and immediately after thedeinked fiber is deposited on the mesh belt 122, the thickness of thedeposited material is measured by the thickness sensor 190, and whenthat measurement result does not reach a designated thickness, the meshbelt speed is slowed, and if it is still insufficient, the old paperinput speed at the automatic feed mechanism 5 is increased, and when itis a designated thickness or greater, the mesh belt speed is speeded up,and when it is still too much with that, the old paper input speed atthe automatic feed mechanism 5 is lowered. The designated thicknesssetting changes according to the defibrating strength of the dry typedefibrator 30, the suction force of the suction device 110, and thedesired thickness of the completed recycled paper, but as a generalguideline, it is possible to make recycled paper of approximately 100 to150μ when the deposited material thickness is approximately 4 to 5 mm.

In this way, with this embodiment, the thickness of the paper formed bythe paper forming machine 100 (thickness of the deinked defibratedmaterial) is detected by the thickness sensor 190, and the main controlunit 200 controls the automatic feed mechanism 5 to adjust the speed ofthe mesh belt 122 and the volume of paper supplied to the dry typedefibrator 30 based on the detection results of the thickness sensor190. By doing this, it is possible to obtain recycled paper of stablequality.

The paper recycling device and paper recycling method of the inventionlike those described above have air classification of the old paperfibers into ink grains and deinked fibers done using a classifier unitsuch as the cyclone 50 or the like, and paper is formed with the deinkedfibers, so with the paper recycling device and the paper recyclingmethod of the invention, it is possible to recycle paper with animproved level of whiteness that can be used widely for purposes otherthan paper for newspapers. Also, with the paper recycling device and thepaper recycling method of the invention, it is possible to have minimalwater for the water use, so even when the device is made more compact,compared to the wet type method, regardless of the drying time, highproductivity of 10 ppm or greater is expected.

Next, we will describe another embodiment of the invention. FIG. 3 is apattern diagram showing the schematic structure of the paper recyclingdevice of another embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 3, constitutionsgiven the same reference numbers as those of the previous embodiment arethe same as the previous items, so we will omit a description thereof.

The first point of this embodiment that differs from the previousembodiment is that with this embodiment, the air flow suctioned by thesuction device 110 is led to the introduction port 31 of the dry typedefibrator 30 using a fourth transport pipe 180. By doing this, thecoarsely crushed paper pieces from the coarse crusher 10 obtain air flowenergization and enter into the dry type defibrator 30. With this kindof constitution, the air velocity at the exhaust port 32 of the dry typedefibrator 30 can be further increased compared to the air velocity ofthe previous embodiment. Then, as a result, the air velocity at theintroduction port 51 of the cyclone 50 can also be further increasedcompared to the air velocity of the previous embodiment, and an increasein the deinking efficiency of the cyclone 50 can be expected.

Also, the second point of this embodiment that differs from the previousembodiment is that with this embodiment, a suction unit 91 such as ablower or the like is provided in the third transport pipe 70, and theair flow exhausted from the upper exhaust port 55 of the cyclone 50 isfurther increased, and furthermore, the air velocity at the introductionport 51 of the cyclone 50 is further increased. As a result, it ispossible to expect increased efficiency of deinking with the cyclone 50beyond that of the previous embodiment. The suction method of the blowerat this time can be made to be at a level for which there will not bebackflow at the cyclone outlet port, or can be made to drivecontinuously by repeatedly doing deinking with the cyclone outlet porttemporarily blocked, and then opening the outlet port after stopping theblower.

Next, we will describe another embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is apattern diagram showing the schematic structure of the paper recyclingdevice of another embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 4, constitutionsgiven the same reference numbers as the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1are the same as the first items, so a description thereof is omitted.

The first point of this embodiment that differs from the firstembodiment is that with this embodiment, the air flow suctioned by thesuction device 110 is led to the introduction port 31 of the dry typedefibrator 30 using the fourth transport pipe 180. By doing this, thecoarsely crushed paper pieces from the coarse crusher 10 obtain air flowenergization and enter into the dry type defibrator 30. With this kindof constitution, the air velocity at the exhaust port 32 of the dry typedefibrator 30 can be further increased compared to the air velocity ofthe first embodiment. Then, as a result, the air velocity at theintroduction port 51 of the cyclone 50 can also further be made higherthan the air velocity of the first embodiment, and increased efficiencycan be expected with the cyclone 50.

The second point of this embodiment that differs from the firstembodiment is that with this embodiment, the suction unit 91 such as ablower or the like is provided in the third transport pipe 70, and theair flow exhausted from the upper exhaust port 55 of the cyclone 50 ismade to be increased further, and the air velocity at the introductionport 51 of the cyclone 50 is made to be further increased. As a result,increased efficiency of deinking with the cyclone 50 can be expectedbeyond that of the first embodiment. The suction method of the blower atthis time can be made to be at a level for which there will not bebackflow at the cyclone outlet port, or can be made to drivecontinuously by repeatedly doing deinking with the cyclone outlet porttemporarily blocked, and then opening the outlet port after stopping theblower.

Also, the third point of this embodiment that differs from the firstembodiment is that with this embodiment, the first transport pipe 40 isconstituted from a first diameter piping 41 and a second diameter piping42 having a smaller pipe diameter than the first diameter piping 41. Afirst valve 43 is provided in the pipe path in the first diameter piping41, and a second valve 44 is provided in the pipe path in the seconddiameter piping 42.

With this embodiment, it is possible to select between leading thedefibrated fibers using the first diameter piping 41 to the introductionport 51 of the cyclone 50 by opening the first valve 43 and closing thesecond valve 44, or to lead the defibrated fibers using the seconddiameter piping 42 to the introduction port 51 of the cyclone 50 byclosing the first valve 43 and opening the second valve 44. With thelatter, in the case of leading to the introduction port 51 that leadsfibers, it is possible to accelerate the air velocity at theintroduction port 51 compared to the former case. Specifically, in thecase of a raw material with a large amount of relatively white paper oruncoated paper, or in the case when the deinking efficiency isrelatively low, it is possible to operate using the piping 41 for whichthe speed is low at the cyclone introduction port, and conversely, whenthe ink adherence volume is large, or in the case of a raw material witha large amount of coated paper, to make the deinking efficiency high, itis possible to operate using the high speed piping 42. With thisembodiment, the first valve 43 in the first diameter piping 41 and thesecond valve 44 in the second diameter piping 42 function as thepreviously noted adjustment unit. With this kind of embodiment, it ispossible select the deinking efficiency that is required as appropriate.

Above, the paper recycling device and the paper recycling method of theinvention do air classification of the old paper fibers into ink grainsand deinked fibers using the classifier unit, and paper is formed withthe deinked fibers, so with the paper recycling device and the paperrecycling method of the invention, it is possible to recycle paper thathas a higher level of whiteness that can be used widely for applicationsother than paper for newspapers.

Also, with the paper recycling device and the paper recycling method ofthe invention, it is possible to make the device more compact, andpossible to install it in an office, so it is possible to perform paperrecycling simultaneously with confidential document processing in smallvolumes that occur with relatively small offices.

Also, with the paper recycling device and the paper recycling method ofthe invention, the constitution is such that to the extent possible itdoes not use water, so the device constitution is such that it ispossible to reduce the water processing equipment and make the deviceconstitution simple, and furthermore, a large scale heater or the likefor drying water is not needed, so the energy efficiency with old paperrecycling is high.

Also, with the paper recycling device and the paper recycling method ofthe invention, it is possible to recycle paper in a relatively shorttime, so productivity is high.

To address problems such as those noted above, the embodiment of thepresent invention is characterized in that the paper recycling device ofthe embodiment has a dry type defibrator unit for crushing paper anddefibrating it, a first transport unit for conveying defibrated materialdefibrated by the dry type defibrator unit, a classifier unit that doesdeinking by doing air flow classification of the defibrated materialtransported by the first transport unit, a second transport unit thattransports the defibrated material deinked by the classifier unit, and apaper forming unit that forms paper with the defibrated materialtransported by the second transport unit.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the flowvelocity of the air flow of the classifier unit's connecting part withthe first transport unit is higher than the flow velocity of the airflow of the dry type defibrator unit's connecting part with the firsttransport unit.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the classifierunit is a cyclone.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the paperforming unit has a dispersion member for dispersing in the air thedefibrated material transported by the second transport unit, a suctionmember for suctioning the dispersed defibrated material, and a mesh beltfor transporting the defibrated material suctioned by the suctionmember.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the mesh belttransports the formed paper and also has a water sprayer for sprayingwater on the formed paper.

Also, the paper recycling device of the embodiment has a heater rollerfor heating the paper sprayed by water using the water sprayer.

Also, the paper recycling device of the embodiment has a third transportunit for transporting classified material classified from the defibratedmaterial by the classifier unit, and a suction unit that suctions theclassified material transported by the third transport unit.

Also, the paper recycling method of the embodiment is characterized bydefibrating paper by dry type crushing, transporting the defibratedmaterial using the first transport unit, doing air flow classificationand deinking of the defibrated material transported by the firsttransport unit, transporting by the second transport unit the defibratedmaterial deinked by the classifying process, and forming paper using thedefibrated material transported by the second transport unit.

Also, the paper recycling device of the embodiment is characterized byhaving a dry type defibrator unit for doing dry type crushing anddefibrating of paper, a first transport unit for transporting using airflow the defibrated material defibrated by the dry type defibrator unit,an adjustment unit for adjusting the air flow of the first transportunit, a classifier unit for doing air flow classification and deinkingof the defibrated material transported by the first transport unit, asecond transport unit for transporting the defibrated material deinkedby the classifier unit, and a paper forming unit for forming paper fromthe defibrated material transported by the second transport unit.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the firsttransport unit has a transport pipe for moving defibrated material, andthe adjustment unit adjusts the cross section surface area of thetransport pipe.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the flowvelocity of the air flow of the classifier unit's connecting part withthe first transport unit is greater than the flow velocity of the airflow of the dry type defibrator unit's connecting part with the firsttransport unit.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the classifierunit is a cyclone.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the paperforming unit has a dispersion member for dispersing defibrated material,a suction member for suctioning the dispersed defibrated material, and amesh belt for transporting the defibrated material suctioned by thesuction member.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the mesh belttransports the formed paper, and also has a water sprayer for sprayingwater on the paper transported by the mesh belt.

Also, the paper recycling device of the embodiment has a heater rollerfor heating the paper sprayed with water by the water sprayer.

Also, the paper recycling method is characterized by doing dry typecrushing and defibrating of paper, transporting the defibrated materialusing air flow for which the flow velocity was adjusted, doing air flowclassification and deinking of the transported defibrated material,transporting the deinked defibrated material, and forming paper usingthe transported defibrated material.

Also, the paper recycling device of the embodiment is characterized byhaving a dry type defibrator unit that does dry type crushing anddefibrating of the supplied paper, a first transport unit thattransports the defibrated material that was defibrated by the dry typedefibrator unit, a classifier unit that does air flow classification anddeinking of the defibrated material transported by the first transportunit, a second transport unit that transports the defibrated materialthat was deinked by the classifier unit, a paper forming unit that formspaper with the defibrated material transported by the second transportunit, and a control unit that controls the volume of paper supplied tothe dry type defibrator unit.

Also, the paper recycling device of the embodiment has a detector unitthat detects the thickness of the paper formed by the paper formingunit, and the control unit controls the volume of paper supplied to thedry type defibrator unit based on the detection results of the detectorunit.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the flowvelocity of the air flow of the classifier unit's connecting part withthe first transport unit is greater than the flow velocity of the airflow of the dry type defibrator unit's connecting part with the firsttransport unit.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the classifierunit is a cyclone.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the paperforming unit has a dispersion member that disperses defibrated material,a suction member that suctions the dispersed defibrated material, and amesh belt that transports the defibrated material suctioned by thesuction member.

Also, with the paper recycling device of the embodiment, the mesh belttransports the formed paper, and also has a water sprayer that sprayswater on the paper transported by the mesh belt.

Also, the paper recycling device of the embodiment has a heater rollerthat heats the paper sprayed with water by the water sprayer.

Also, the paper recycling method of the embodiment is characterized bysupplying a controlled volume of paper, doing dry type crushing anddefibrating of the supplied paper, transporting the defibrated material,doing air flow classification and deinking of the transported defibratedmaterial, transporting the deinked defibrated material, and formingpaper with the transported defibrated material.

As described above, the paper recycling device and paper recyclingmethod of the embodiment uses the classifier unit to do air flowclassification of the old paper fibers into ink grains and deinkedfibers, and forms paper with those deinked fibers, so with the paperrecycling device and paper recycling method of the invention, it ispossible to recycle paper for which the level of whiteness has beenincreased and which can be used for a wide variety of applications otherthan for paper for newspapers.

As we go forward, mechanisms that consider the earth's environment willbe in increasing demand, and the paper recycling device and the paperrecycling method of the invention is an item that matches this kind ofneed, and can be expected to greatly increase social usability. Untilnow, with recycling of old paper exhausted from offices or the like,mainly, wet type method old paper recycling methods were used, and withthis, it was essential to collect a large volume of old paper, and inaddition to a great deal of effort being required for water processingequipment preparation and maintenance, there was also the problem that agreat deal of energy was used for the drying process. In contrast tothis, with the paper recycling device and the paper recycling method ofthe invention, deinking is performed using a classifier unit, and almostno water needs to be used, so it is possible to perform paper recyclingsimultaneously with processing of confidential documents in smallvolumes that occur in relatively small offices, and it is also possibleto recycle paper with an increased whiteness level, and to have veryhigh industrial applicability.

What is claimed is:
 1. A paper recycling method comprising: defibratingfirst paper by dry type crushing into defibrated material; transportingthe defibrated material using a first transport unit; deinking by an airflow classification of the defibrated material after the transporting bythe first transport unit; transporting using the second transport unitthe defibrated material after the deinking by the classifying process;and forming second paper with the defibrated material after thetransporting by the second transport unit.